The violent past of cannibal chef

A chef who murdered his lover and ate part of his flesh was a violent drunk with a history of aggressive behaviour.

Anthony Morley once attacked a former boyfriend with a meat cleaver before threatening ambulance staff with an air rifle.

On another occasion he told a man he could kill him with his bare hands.

The 36-year-old was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 30 years, at Leeds Crown Court after being convicted of murdering Damian Oldfield.

At the centre of Morley's destructive anger lay confusion over his sexuality, the court heard.

Since his first homosexual relationship when he was a teenager, Morley, of Bexley Place, Leeds, did not know whether he was gay, straight or bisexual.

And this frustration was said to have contributed to the "cold-blooded, savagely executed murder" of 33-year-old Mr Oldfield in Morley's bedroom in April.

Morley grew up in Leeds and had dreams of becoming a dancer.

In 1993 he entered the first Mr Gay UK competition, winning the title, £1,000 and a holiday to Gran Canaria.

He leapt up and went for me with a meat cleaver

Shaun Wood, Morley's ex-boyfriend

However, Morley claimed he was not gay when he won the contest and actually had a steady girlfriend at the time.

But he did admit to "adventuring" into ideas of relationships with men and was said to have had a relationship with an older man when he was a teenager.

After his win, Morley moved to London, where he pursued a career in modelling and dance, using opportunities given to him by winning the competition.

On his return to Leeds, he trained as a chef and worked at a number of top restaurants in the city, eventually becoming a sous-chef specialising in seafood.

Drink problem

He appeared on an late night dating television game show hosted by Davina McCall where he chose a date from a crowd of men, which included his future victim Mr Oldfield.

Morley later had a five-year relationship with a man called Shaun Wood but also went on to have a relationship with a woman, lasting about three years.

He had encounters with both men and women and said his sexuality worried him, claiming he just "wanted to be normal".

And he was also known to have had an alcohol problem.

Morley said his confused sexuality "worried" him

The chef once attacked former boyfriend Mr Wood with a meat cleaver after he had been drinking and they had a disagreement about money.

Mr Wood said: "He went to the kitchen and came back and sat down on the settee and five minutes later he leapt up and went for me with a meat cleaver, but unfortunately he fell backwards so it didn't get me."

During the incident, Morley smashed up his bedroom before threatening ambulance staff with an air rifle.

Steven Robinson, who knew Mr Oldfield from bars in Leeds, described how Morley had once grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and told him he could kill with his hands.

It was a killing borne out of hatred for what he felt and what had happened to him, hatred for his own sexuality

Prosecutor Andrew Stubbs QC

On the day of Mr Oldfield's murder, the pair met after exchanging texts in which Morley said he wanted to take things slowly.

The two men went to Morley's house, where he cooked a meal of fish for them both before they went upstairs to his bedroom.

The pair, who had both been drinking, stripped to their underwear and kissed and cuddled while watching a DVD of gay cowboy film Brokeback Mountain.

Morley claimed he woke to find Mr Oldfield performing a sexual act on him and said he had felt betrayed after telling him he wanted to take things slowly.

It led Morley to slash Mr Oldfield's throat and stab him multiple times.

He then cut chunks of flesh from his body, which he cooked and tried to eat.

Andrew Stubbs QC, prosecutor in Morley's trial, said the chef had killed Mr Oldfield because he could not deal with his homosexuality when he was drunk.

Mr Stubbs said: "It was a killing borne out of hatred for what he felt and what had happened to him, hatred for his own sexuality and now for the homosexual who was in his bed."

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